Invicta’s Relay Goldrush

Invicta had an incredible day at the Kent Relay Championships on Sunday 16th September, ending the track season on a high! We had 15 teams participating with athletes from across the club joining together to take part.

The U13 G (Amelia Lawton, Darcie Maple, Atida Kusotera and Macey Sawyer) started off proceedings with a solid run in the 4x200. Unfortunately some issues with changeovers meant the race had to be re-run later on, giving the girls another chance to medal in the straight final where they later finished 5th. Shortly after the U13 B (Joe Holness, James Gill, Jens Chappell and Josh Thomas-Wright) finished 4th in their heat to qualify for the final later on. The boys later qualified for the 4x100 final as well. A great achievement for some who are still new to the club!

In the 3x800, Adam Whitlock got the team off to a strong start, while new to competition Sam Hurst gained a couple of positions to hand over to Reef Page in 3rd place. There was some ground to make up but doing what he does best, Reef effortlessly went passed the other athletes and brought it home in 1st. The race was done as a time trial so there was some waiting to do before the final result. However, the boy’s time was best on paper and they took home the trophy. Outstanding effort! They finished a whole 3 seconds ahead of 2nd place.

Shortly after, Teigan Sullivan, Jildou Chappell and Maddy Sawyer had another fantastic team effort to finish in 2nd place, taking home the silver!

The U13 girls were back on the track, without much time to recover! They were joined by Katie Macey in place of Amelia. They finished in a strong 4th place in their heat, just missing out on a place in the final.

Invicta were able to field two teams for the U15 G 4x100 with Calypso Newman, Lottie Simmonds, Candice Littell and Scarlett Thomas-Wright making up the A string and Chloe Sands, Emilia Stokes, Jildo Chappell and Maddy Sawyer making up the B string. Despite just an hour since their 800m, Maddy & Jildou were able to bring the B team into 4th place with the A team finishing in 5th. The first time some of these athletes had run together so a fantastic achievement from all!

After a short break and a chance to refuel, Calypso, Lottie, Candice and Scarlett were back with a 4x200, a straight final. They were up against some very tough competition but each girl performed fantastically with Lottie Simmonds running a really strong 2nd leg to bring us in to 4th place.

Next up, a well-practised team of Hannah Scrivens, Freya Lee, Lauren Macey and Djamilla Nkereuwem performed fantastically in their 4x200 and brought the baton home in 3rd place. They later had their less favourite 4x100 (a last minute decision to enter!) finishing in a close 4th place against some seriously quick runners! The girls later had their preferred distance of 4x300, with unfortunately only two teams in the girls ran a really hard-fought race to add silver to their bronze. This adds to their bronze in the 4x300 last year. Their time of 3:01.5 is a new personal best and puts them in the top 50 in the UK rankings.

We had a last minute substitution in the U20/Senior Men’s team (Which featured two U17 athletes). A mix of ages, yet the men finished in a fantastic 3rd place later to find out that a disqualification meant they had been upgraded to silver! Max Lai wasn’t expecting that when he was talked into joining the team just two days before. Really solid running from all four boys with Jake Goodman running a superb anchor leg. Barney Dougal and Elliott Simmonds were able to pick up their first medals of their careers! Their time was also .02s faster than the team’s from last year! The men later finished 5th in their 4x100 against some stiff competition.

The U13 boys had a couple of finals to contend with before the end of the day. They finished in 7th in the 4x200 as well as 7th in the 4x100.

The penultimate race of the day was the U15 girls 4x300. The 10th place ranked team had a lot resting on their shoulders and determination to beat their time. They were without usual teammate Issy Harding who was competing at English Schools but the girls gave it their all. With some ground to make up, Maddy Sawyer had a really tough final leg but pulled it back to an agonisingly close 4th place. The girls, naturally disappointed, went home later to find they had been given the bronze medal; the 2nd of the day for Maddy and Jildou.

Well done everyone. A fantastic day with some great team performances, real potential for some up and coming athletes and a great sense of club spirit!